Ave Gaia
by Lavaflow
Summary: Shanxi has been attacked by aliens. General Williams sees no option but eventual surrender. The magical world has... other ideas.
1. Military Preparations

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Harry Potter universe or the Mass Effect franchise. I do own copies of most of the material though.

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><p>"Sir, we just lost the last AA battery. Orbital strike."<p>

General Williams only grunted in acknowledgement. It was only to be expected. The damnable aliens had been pounding at their defenses for over a day now. "Who did we lose with it?"

"Everyone who was there. That would be the remainders of the 401st infantry, the 663rd, and the 39th mechanized" the aide -a captain- replied.

Williams frowned at that. "Wasn't the 10th Armor defending that location?"

"They'd been ground down to nothing before that, sir. It was about an hour ago. It should have been brought to your attention then."

The General rubbed at his face wearily. "You're right, it was." Left unspoken was effect the long fight was having on all of them. Fatigue was starting to hit all of them, and things would only be getting worse. "Who do we have left in the reserves? Anybody?"

"Only the HQ Company, sir. Everyone else got taken out or bogged down in their deployment by now." Great. That meant there was another hole in their lines- and they didn't have the people to fill it this time. The loss of the AA battery also meant that fixed positions were now completely vulnerable to air strikes. It was time to disperse.

"Switch to Operation Posture Delta-36. We can't hold the lines anymore. Command devolves on local commanders, primary objectives stealth and civilian defense, otherwise targets of opportunity only." He turned to his staff commander. "Also start destroying everything we can't bring with us from HQ. We have to leave ourselves before they drop something on _our_ heads, and I don't want to leave anything for them to capture." The blonde woman saluted and turned to leave the room.

_*crack*_

Drawing his pistol, Williams whirled towards the corner of the operations room the sound came from, where he saw a black haired man standing. The man was wearing something that _looked_ like a uniform, but it certainly wasn't one he had seen before, nor could he identify what it was made out of. It looked like some sort of scale, which was utterly ridiculous. Plus, no unit he had ever heard of used a crossed sword and stick as their insignia. Out of the corner of his eye he saw and heard his staff commander gasp in recognition and snap to attention.

Disregarding the guns pointed at him, the green-eyed man spoke. "General Williams, can your men hold out for another 10 minutes?"

Ignoring the question, Williams growled out a question of his own. "Who are you and how did you get in here?"

"I am Supreme Commander Potter of the United Magical Forces. My people will be acting in 10 minutes, primarily with anti-orbital defense and aerial superiority, but with some ground elements. Will your forces hold or do we need to deploy heavy ground forces immediately? We would prefer to maintain cohesion for the strike, but I can deploy the Goblins sooner if needed."

"Bullshit. Magic isn't real, and Goblins are fairy tales. And how the devil would you have anti-orbital capabilities still? Staff Commander Malfoy, get this lunatic out of here."

This drew the strange man's attention towards the blonde woman staring at him. "Malfoy? Any relation to Draco? You don't look like him."

"Squib Daphne Malfoy, sir" she saluted. "I take after my great-grandmother Astoria, sir. It's an honor to meet you, sir."

Potter nodded. "Yes, I see the resemblance now. I take it you are fully knowledgeable then. And you can answer my question. Can your troops hold?"

"I know the basics, sir. And I think we can hold 10 minutes, even without air cover, but not much longer. I can't be sure, because as you can see," here she gestured towards several blank monitors, "we lost all our battlefield sensors some time ago. We've been relying on reports only."

"Understood. I'll have my staff transfer here immediately. We still have intact sensor ward coverage. Additionally, full disclosure is authorized; code Phoenix One-Niner-Niner-Seven-Delta-Echo-Romeo."

Daphne's eyes widened. That was the code for the total and immediate reveal of the entire magical world, across all colonized planets. It was considered a worst-case scenario, and precisely one person could authorize it. She answered mechanically "Authorization confirmed. _Ave Gaia_."

Potter gave her a sharp nod. "_Ave Gaia_. I'll try to be back before the rituals go off." With that, and another _*crack*_, he was gone.

"Staff Commander what the hell was that!" General Williams had had enough. "I order you remove him, and you defer to him? You had better have a good explanation for this!"

After taking a few moments to compose herself, she looked him in the eyes. "Short answer, General, is that magic is real, and many things known as myth exist, and all of it has been hidden for about 500 years. Now the magical world is revealing itself to integrate back into non-magical society. Harry James Potter, the man who was just here, is a living legend, and effectively the leader of magical society, despite the lack of title designating him as such. I'm what is known as a squib, a non-magical born to a magical family. Since the Mars discovery, squibs have been encouraged to go into either the non-magical military or government, for better coordination and integration in case magical society decided to reveal itself-like now."

Silence met her statement, the only noise coming from the humming of the machines around them. A few moments later, General Williams broke the silence. "Let's say I believe you. I'll pretend that these exist, and you know about them. What about this has gotten you so shaken up?"

"Most revelation plans were to be over time. The magical world revealed itself piece by piece, to various groups individually. That code authorized an emergency plan. The entire magical world will reveal itself to everyone at once. Every enlisted squib will tell their squad mates. Every elected politician in the know will hold an immediate press conference to tell people about it. Every ward concealing the magical world from the non-magical will drop. Wizards and witches will stop caring who sees them doing common magic as they go through their day. People will start seeing the magical creatures around them. Every colony and every station has a magical population, General. Within a few hours, all of humanity will know about the magical world. I can't even imagine how people will react."

No one gave her an answer.

* * *

><p>Harry James Potter, Supreme Commander of all Magical combat forces, leader of the Magical World (not that anyone had ever informed him of that), apparated into the heavily-warded bunker the Shanxi Planetary Magical Defense Command had set up at the beginning of the invasion. Striding into command room, silent in his dragonhide boots, he began giving orders. "Colonel Weasley, set up auxiliary command in the muggle headquarters. Take extra displays, their sensors are out. I'm designating you Planetary Coordination Officer. That's where their General is, there's a Squib there explaining things to him now. Make sure you're set up before Operation Basilisk goes off. Dismissed." The red-haired officer saluted and left, barking out his own orders to those around him. Harry continued, "General Bones, what's the status of the mobile forces? Are they in position?"<p>

General Edgar Bones was the grandson of Susan Bones, Harry's classmate. Similarly, Colonel William Weasley was the grandson of Percy Weasley. While it was pure chance that they had both been deployed to Shanxi, they were grateful. The two had a strong friendship going back to their childhoods. Right now, in the midst of an alien invasion, that extra trust in each other was invaluable. "Yes sir. The Goblins are in position under the enemy lines, and the centaurs and giants are hidden in the forests flanking them. The dragons are armored up, and the escorting broom squads are ready to launch." Anticipating the next question, he continued. "The rituals are on schedule. The Anti-Orbital rituals are going for sure kills over number of shots, so it looks like they'll only take out four enemy ships. They're targeting the four biggest, hopefully that will suffice to halt the bombardment enough. The city-shielding ritual looks like it is a few seconds behind, but that shouldn't make a difference."

The rituals in question were the most powerful ever developed. Unfortunately, that also made them require a lot of time and energy to cast. The city shielding ritual was actually six coinciding rituals circling the city, each cast by a dozen powerful witches (and only witches, for some reason. Wizards couldn't cast it.) over the course of six hours. They created a massive shield over the city that would stop anything that wasn't attached to a person in some way. The result of that particular setup was that weapon fire and vehicles- which magical forces didn't use- would be stopped by the shield, but troops could still deploy in and out of it. Long-term bombardment would eventually wear it down, and it was unsure how long this one would last; after all, it had never been used on this scale before, or under these conditions.

The Anti-Orbital rituals were even larger. Set in the mountains around the continent that the capital (and only) city was located on, each of the four rituals took two dozen each of Wizards and Witches over the course of twelve hours to cast, and none would be able to do magic for a full week afterwards. As their name implied, the Anti-Orbital Ritual (it had an official name, but no one used it), sent a large beam of pure destructive magical energy in a line to high orbit over the planet, which would vaporize any solid matter it touched. A few seconds later, the beam would disperse harmlessly. The backlash, however, would cause an explosion comparable to several tons of TNT outwards from the ritual circle.

Harry gave a thin smile. "Good. I've had enough of Humans dying." He turned to the communications officer. "Connect me to all magicals. Wizards, Witches, Goblins, , Centaurs, Vampires, Veela, Giants, Elves. _Everyone._"

The communications witch gulped and nodded. A few runes and spells later, she paused and spoke up. "Sir, I need authorization codes for full connections. I don't have that authority."

"Phoenix Sigma-Alpha-Three-Niner-One-Niner-Four-Seven"

"Understood, Sir." A pause. "Connected, Sir."

Harry James Potter, age 177, most powerful wizard alive (and probably in history, but again, no one would ever tell him that), took a breath and began to speak to every magical being in existence.

"I am Harry Potter. As many of you know, a day ago aliens came to the colony of Shanxi. They attacked, unprovoked. They killed, and did not even attempt to give reason."

He paused, and across their corner of the galaxy, magical beings waited, doing nothing but listening. Quidditch players paused and hovered in place. Goblins ceased their smithing.

"Our non-magical brethren have fought bravely, tirelessly. They have done all they can to halt and avenge the slaughter. It has not been enough. Their soldiers, brave as they are, have died. Their lines have all but broken, holding together by stubbornness alone."

"And so we shall act. In a few minutes, Operation Basilisk will launch. Dragons will fly the skies openly once more. Witches and Wizards will strike where the enemy feels safe. Goblins will hold the lines, and push back the aliens. It will be the most open display of magic in recent history, and the largest magical combat action ever."

"But it will not- _cannot_- be a single event. The children of Earth _cannot afford _to be divided anymore. It is time. It is time for us, as magical beings, to join with our non-magical brethren. To fly between the stars with them. To walk the gates beside them."

"I am Harry James Potter, Supreme Commander of the United Magical Forces. By my authority, the International Statute of Magical Secrecy is hereby _abolished_."

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><p>AN:

So this is my first attempt at creative writing of any appreciable length. I hope I can expand what's in my head enough to actually become a story.


	2. Revelations Incoming

**Arcturus Station**

"_The International Statute of Magical Secrecy is hereby _abolished_."_

With these words ringing in her head, Andromeda Parkinson hurried to her console to call an emergency meeting of the Systems Alliance Parliament. Only major Chamber heads, the Prime Minister, and the Lord of Chambers (who, oddly enough, wasn't technically a member of Parliament despite being the presiding officer) had the authority to do so. As head of the Chamber of Commerce, Andromeda was the only one of the half dozen magicals on that list, so the duty fell to her-despite the fact that the emergency in question had nothing to do with her official area of authority.

Well, she mused, it probably would impact Commerce. Even if the sudden revelation of the wizarding world –whoops, magical world, have to remember that- didn't throw the market into flux, the sudden addition of so many new magical materials and transport abilities definitely would. Still, Parliament protocol called for the Head of Chamber of the cause of the emergency in question to call the meeting, not the Chamber of the results.

It's not like there was a Chamber of Magic. At least, not yet.

Chuckling slightly at that amusing thought, Andromeda Parkinson, MP Britain, Head of the Chamber of Commerce began walking to the Parliamentary Chambers. Calling an emergency session gave all members of Parliament 15 minutes to get to the Hall, and she intended to be the first there. With her wand.

Across the station, wizards and witches -and the occasional vampire- began acting almost as one. First informed were the squibs, each of whom began their own routines. Everyone cognizant of the magical world who were part of the non-magical was briefed on what to do for many permutations of the revealing of the magical world. Those in government or military were even more thoroughly advised, and those who lived on Arcturus Station were briefed in almost painful detail. Just as Earth was the heart and soul of humanity, Arcturus Station was the brain. It was absolutely vital that revelation of the hidden world go well here, for here was where policy was formed. If there were motions to subjugate magical beings in any way –or even worse, if such measures actually _passed_- it would be disaster of unmitigated proportions.

No one wanted that. To get the best results -that is, the case where there was the most goodwill towards the magical community- it was decided that approaching people at a personal level would be best. Section chiefs told stories of their families while they worked. Healers opened their potion stores to the station medical centers and worked in shifts so there was always a magical healer on call, lamenting the fact that they weren't allowed to help this way before. Parents told their children that they were allowed to show their friends the cool things they could do.

In many ways the religious upheavals of a few decades previous were a boon to the effort. As a unified entity, religion no longer had a strong influence on government. There would be no pastors with loyal congregations of thousands crying out about the influence of the devil. After all, they had discovered proof of aliens from other planets. At least these people were from Earth, and part of God's Plan-whatever that may be.

On the whole, Arcturus Station was the target of the most detailed high-speed propaganda campaign in history. On Earth, it was fairly simple to show off the massive underground cities of the goblins, or the hauntingly beautiful underwater palaces of the merfolk. It was rather more difficult, however, to smuggle onto- and even moreso, hide- something like a dragon on the self-contained Arcturus Station. Therefore the task fell to those who were merely human- or at least those who could easily pass for such. And, as everyone knows, it is much more difficult to convince with words than by example.

"Here ye, Hear ye, this emergency gathering of the Systems Alliance Parliament, called by the Parliament Member Commerce, is now in session. Madam Parkinson has the floor."

Fifteen minutes wasn't really enough time to prepare for this kind of thing, Andromeda mused as moved to the podium that dominated the center of the floor in the opulent meeting hall.

"Ladies and gentlemen, as you know, we recently received a messenger drone from the Shanxi system, describing an attack by unknown forces, presumably aliens. In response, we have sent a fleet in support, though they will not arrive for some time. However, this is not the direct reason I have called this emergency meeting. This meeting is to reveal a secret that has lasted over 450 years, and is largest secret in the history of Earth." Here, Andromeda paused, gazing over the mass of now-restless representatives. She paused at each person who already knew; three wizards, two witches, and a handful of squibs. Taking heart in their looks of silent support, she gathered herself and continued.

"However, before I do so, I shall relate the events on Shanxi that have led to it, and I shall temporarily hold in confidence the method by which I know, but rest assured that you will know by the end of the meeting today."

"Approximately 14 hours ago, it was determined that the Shanxi Colonial Defense would not be able to hold long enough for our reinforcements to arrive. Ground forces would have been forced to surrender within a week." At this, murmurs spread throughout the room. After a few moments, Andromeda continued over the murmurs in a clear and confident voice.

"Needless to say, this was deemed unacceptable. Shanxi is a colony of Earth. It will not be lost. Therefore, leading elements of the UMF-yes, the group in question is part of that secret I have dangled in front of you- unilaterally decided that keeping the secret was not worth the loss of a colony, and began a plan to decisively end the alien threat at Shanxi. Unfortunately, once begun the preliminary measures have taken over 12 hours to complete, during which a great many more lives have been lost to the enemy. While some of these losses could have been prevented by immediate deployment of combat assets, the decision was made locally that a decisive strike was more important than immediately saving a few more lives."

"I am a politician, not a military strategist. I will not pretend to know if that was the correct decision. I will, however, say that the sacrifice of those who have lost their lives against this unknown and unforeseeable threat will not have been in vain." She paused once more, as if in memory of the fallen. Taking the moment to scan the reactions of those around her, she found expressions of honest grief on some, calculating looks on others, and a wide range of emotions in between; about what she expected.

"Here you may be asking yourself what kind of force could be so sure that they would be decisive, and how such a force could be unknown. A large force could be decisive, but impossible to hide from either side. No known technology could make a small force decisive against the enemies they face. So why would these 1000 people -and yes, UMF forces on Shanxi number approximately that- believe themselves to be decisive? The answer to that question matches that of the centuries-old secret. It is both quite simple and incredibly complex."

"These people wield Magic."

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><p><strong>Earth<strong>

"_The International Statute of Magical Secrecy is hereby _abolished_."_

"Well, I guess that ends that debate" Michael Lupin commented off-handedly, causing his fellows to snort in amusement. They were at a meeting of The Magical Races Regent Council, (or just The Council) debating on which plan to use to reveal the magical world to the non-magicals.

The Council had been formed in the results of Harry Potter's crusade to bring equality and unity to all races and factions in the magical world. Officially, it was a regent council because the leaders of each of the previous separate governments had ceded their authority to their representatives on the council; hence, regent council.

_Unofficially_, it was the Regent Council because they were waiting for Harry to get his head out his arse and realize that the entire magical world wanted him in charge. He had been offered the leadership role several times during and after the Unification Crusade. Each time, he had refused with various 'reasons'; his excuses generally boiled down to something like 'Why would you want _me_ leading you?'. Hence, they were actually _his_ regents, until he took up the role. Not that anyone had bothered telling him this. They knew he would protest it endlessly. It was actually in the founding documents of the council: _Should, at any time, the rightful leader of the unified magical world, Harry James Potter, choose to take his role as such, the Magical Races Regent Council shall become the Magical Races Advisory Council_. Harry had missed that line when they asked him to look over the treaties.

Since that line hadn't been added until after he had done so, he could be forgiven that oversight.

As a compromise, he had (eventually) agreed to be the leader of the collective military forces. He had tried to refuse, arguing that he didn't any of the necessary training to do so, despite the fact that he was the most combat experienced wizard alive. 'Well', they had replied, 'if that's your only concern, it's easily rectified' and promptly shipped him off to train with the top military minds of each race for a decade.

"Gutslasher" Michael said, turning to one of the goblins in the room, "I take it the goblins won't mind the sudden expansion into the mundane markets?"

"Of course not" the goblin replied with a predatory grin, "We've been waiting to tap into all that money for _decades!_" Cackling, he left the room.

Continuing on, the _de facto_ leader of the Council turned to the military portion of the council. The goblin Bloodaxe (he had earned his name), the centaur Theia (named for her white coat and bright blue eyes), the vampire Vladislav (he absolutely hated being called Vlad-too cliché), and the wizard Victor Stone (his demeanor fit his name) each represented the military interests of their respective race, while Charlie Ridgebit (he loved his dragons) was in charge of everyone else as well as non-sentient magical animals usable in combat-like dragons. "I take it you lot, with your usual military efficiency, have already figured out who each of you will be contacting and meeting with" Michael drawled out.

"But of course, my dear friend! To do otherwise would be an insult to our profession, and you cut me to the quick for even suggesting otherwise!" cried out Vladislav, dramatically bringing his hand to his chest as if stabbed. Laughter from his comrades was his only response. Pouting slightly, he led the other military representatives out of room. Michael shook his head slightly. Despite his immature antics, the vampire was the oldest and most experienced member of the council.

"Michael." His attention was drawn to Theia, who had stopped just inside the door. "Orion was particularly bright last night" she said whimsically. A moment later, she nodded to him and departed. Michael promptly committed that to memory. Centaurs liked being mysterious, and were always vague, but they were seldom wrong when it came to that sort of thing.

Giving himself a metal shake, he turned to a woman with curly blonde hair. "Suzanne, organize a press conference as soon as you can, but make sure there's major news sources from both sides of the fence." Suzanne Skeeter was the Council's Press Secretary. Like her great-grandaunt, she loved journalism. Unlike Rita, she absolutely despised publishing anything that couldn't be verified as fact or was clearly labeled as opinion. Nodding absently, she headed for the door as she scribbled on her ever-present notebook.

Michael looked over the remaining members of the Council in the room. Those left were the representatives of every magical group imaginable, ranging from the former magical nations to werewolf clans to the lone house-elf representative. "Well, I guess we had better split up to call on our nonmagical counterparts. Those of you who represent an area with a matching mundane government, go there. Everyone else gather 'round, we'll figure it out." Great. He was going to be stuck in political meeting for the forseeable future. He hated politics.

Why did he agree to do this again?

* * *

><p><strong>AN**

Back to Shanxi next chapter. And stuff will actually happen, I promise.

To those of you wondering about pairings, let's just say that Harry isn't currently looking for a long-term relationship and leave it at that.


End file.
